


A Din of Gnawing Cracks

by PandaFlower



Series: Amateur Poet Hour [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Admittedly Amateur Attempt, Poetry, this one got creepy on me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 08:31:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11505603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaFlower/pseuds/PandaFlower





	A Din of Gnawing Cracks

A Din of Gnawing Cracks

 

It seems so innocuous at first

A mere kindness at the start

But when you invite one, they bring their friends

And you get lost in the din

 

It starts with a kindness to one

You have no fear of the consequences

What’s the harm in neighborly hello

What’s a meal between friends

 

It’s slow in the manner of avalanches

Inexorable, unstoppable, and deadly

First in ones, then twos and threes

Misfortune that grows and grows

 

They unseat your reality as an appetizer

Those hungry, ravenous, gaping teeth

You cannot protest if you cannot stand firm

Where is the ground? Is it sturdy or salt?

 

The smile upon your face is stretched

It becomes more fixed by the day

Be calm, be calm, don’t get worked up

What were they even saying in the first place?

  

You live in haze, your sight is murky

You saw too keenly, you offered too much kindness

A hand extended is an arm eaten

A tattered, windblown ruin of a being

 

Look upon your ruin now

Look upon the threshold you failed to bar

Are your arms open or are they pinned?

Do you even know the difference anymore?

 

It seemed so easy, it happened so soon

What is the nature of your reality now?

They swarm about through the nooks of your life

Smiling, gnawing, insidious, cracks

 

They’ve scraped you hollow, a tattered shell

But here is the key to your salvation

A vessel may hold whatever it wills

And your will is to live

 

You stuff yourself with the salt upon which you stand

Hard enough to withstand the strife

Soft enough to cushion the blows

They cannot eat you if they’re choking

 

One needs an unconventional sword

To stab at the gnawing cracks in your world

You grip it tight, watch their grins falter

Let’s see how they like iron in their craw

 

One by one you rout them out

Here is your line in the sand

Never again will they cross your threshold

See the sign? This is No-Man’s Land.

 

The kingdom lies in ruins

But the foundations are still strong

The hatchet lies unburied

Your warning for all who come


End file.
